North State Journal: “The task — like Democrat Beto O’Rourke ‘s underdog campaign to unseat Abbott — is an uphill climb. But it is another way Republicans are putting plenty at stake on the Texas border, given that they are already refocusing the final sprint of the 2022 midterms on portraying the 1,200-mile boundary as rife with escalating danger and disorder as record number of migrants enter from Mexico.
Border Democrats say dramatic moves to bus and fly migrants across the country will backfire with voters, but also acknowledge they can no longer coast into office.
Still, the rare sight of contested races on the Texas border has widened cracks in an important Democratic stronghold two years after former President Donald Trump’s significant gains with Hispanic voters during the 2020 election caused both parties to scramble in unexpected ways.
“This is the first time we’ve ever had this many competitive races where the Democrats are like, ‘What are we going to do?’” said Republican Carlos Cascos, a onetime border Democrat who switched parties and later served as Abbott’s first secretary of state.
He’s doesn’t see Republicans sweeping races in the Rio Grande Valley, home to roughly 1.5 million people. But, he says, “I think this area has been taken for granted a lot. In the Valley, you’re born two things: a Catholic and a Democrat. Things are changing.””